“Do it for the plot” Swedish version

Hej, everyone!

I’m Paula, from Spain, and I’ve now been living in Sweden for five months. Sometimes I feel like time flies too quickly… though I suppose that’s a good sign.

I won’t lie to you — the first few weeks were tough. Living with people you don’t know, from completely different cultures, without your friends or family nearby… it’s not easy. I had always wanted to live abroad for a while, and before this experience I spent nine months in Poland on an Erasmus scholarship, but the atmosphere there was completely different. We lived in a student residence where most of us were Spanish, and what we cared about the most was vodka, trips, food, and cheap parties. There was no time to think too much, or to feel lonely.

Sweden, on the other hand, is very different. Not only the country itself, but also my lifestyle here. The goal is not just to enjoy myself, but to contribute to a project — and besides, I’ve changed too. When I was looking for volunteer opportunities for this year, Sweden wasn’t my first choice (I was more interested in the Netherlands or Denmark), but what I knew for sure was that I wanted a big cultural change, something I wouldn’t find in neighboring countries like Italy or Portugal, even if adapting there would have been easier.

In a way, I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone, challenge my mind, and see how far I could go. I could say the first month was quite hard, but meeting new people during the arrival training in Stockholm was a major turning point in my adaptation.

Still, I don’t think cultural differences were the real challenge — it was my own mind playing against me, making me question my decision. Had I done the right thing moving to another country for a whole year? What if something went wrong? Back in Spain, I had a happy life: I worked, studied, had my family nearby, and a wonderful group of friends… So, why did I decide to leave?

But just as I had those doubts at the beginning, I also remember why I made this decision: I wanted a different kind of year, one in which productivity — studying, working, building a future — wasn’t the priority. I wanted a change of scenery, to gain some perspective. And it’s funny — I used to crave time to think, and now that I finally have it, sometimes it feels like too much. I guess that’s the bad habit our system teaches us: believing we must always be productive.

Now there are seven months ahead of me, and although winter is already here and the days are really short, I’m curious to see how Swedes experience this time of year. In the meantime, I’ll keep following my motto: “Do it for the plot.”

Paula.